


heart and soul

by CadetDru



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Murder, No beta we kayak like Tim, Obsession, Other, Possessive Behavior, Throw out a fic based on a throwaway conversation, Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28085880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetDru/pseuds/CadetDru
Summary: He wanted to possess her.  He wanted her loyalty.  He wanted her mind and soul.  He wasn't particularly interested in her body.  He didn't want to fall in love with her.  He didn't admit it until the day that he realized that he had fallen decades before.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard & Gertrude Robinson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	heart and soul

**Author's Note:**

> It's not discord's fault, it's mine

Jonah Magnus had been a hopeless romantic, once upon a time. The Eye didn't burn that out of him, it was just the passage of time. Jonah's heart had always been weak, metaphorically rather than physically.As a much younger man, he'd fallen in love far too easily.As the years went on, he was able to keep himself in check.He locked his heart away in his stolen bodies and went about the necessary business. The Eye didn't care how he felt one way or another. 

Jonah sorted his Archival employees into different categories. There were the backup Archivists, the backup vessels for him to use. He tried to look to the future as much as possible.It was more first than second nature.

Gertrude Robinson was an exemplary Archivist when Jonah first selected her.As a young woman, he held no attraction for her, which made her a perfect selection.He needed not to care personally when they were first learnt She learned so much, but she refused to learn her powers. It would have broken his heart if he still had one to break. 

She stayed at the Institute for so long.It became a comfort, knowing that she would be there to challenge him.She expanded his knowledge.He didn't try to read her.He wanted to let things play out the old-fashioned, new-fashioned way.He never liked to read the Archivists or their backups and successors.He didn't want to interfere too much.

He wanted to possess her.He wanted her loyalty.He wanted her mind and soul.He wasn't particularly interested in her body.He didn't want to fall in love with her.He didn't admit it until the day that he realized that he had fallen decades before.

She had become inconvenient. She was feared as much as he was, if not moreso.She was such a help to him. She was there and she was there and she was there.She learned so much, she refused to learn her powers.

He tried to avoid self knowledge as much as possible when it came to his employees. He had to face the facts. He needed to kill her.He didn't want to. 

He could have taken one of his backup vessels and transferred her over. She would just have to agree to the rather risky attempt. They could have ruled together. The only problem was that she was Gertrude Robinson and she'd sooner die. It would be done. He couldn't deny her the fate that she'd chosen. 

There were so many ways that he could have arranged it. He didn't need to get his hands dirty.He didn't need to physically be there to he sure that the job got done.He didn't need to act at all, just think it and it would happen.

He got the gun. He wanted to do it himself.He wanted to see the light die behind her eyes. He wanted to be sure that she didn't suffer, but that she did feel that last bit of pain.He wanted, he wanted. 

He kept himself from saying "if I can't have you, no one will." He kept himself from thinking anything of the sort.The fact remained that she was trying to destroy his Archives and his loyalties couldn't change. She wasn't worth it.No one was.An old woman who had wasted her life was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

The Eye would miss her, but it had learned to love again in the past.It was even more fickle than Jonah himself.She could be replaced, the right sort of man installed in her place. Maybe even one that could love him, Elias if not Jonah. Someone who would serve the Eye, who would bow his head and do what he was told. 

Jonah wouldn't miss being challenged. He wouldn't fall in love again.The next time he killed, it would just be to eliminate a problem. 

Much later, one of the backup Archivists would find her body after her replacement realized something was wrong. Motives were something that would be beyond the both of them.They hadn't grown to understand the kind of love that the Eye would stoke.That would come much later for them.


End file.
